It's all in the Cards
by RedCatEye
Summary: Dean Ambrose has a weird hobby. Who knew that he would be quick with his hands? (Like always, summary sucks!)


Dean Ambrose never considered himself as a cardist, nor did he ever admit to anyone that shuffling cards calmed him down. He didn't know how old he was when he started to goof around with playing cards but he was sure he took those shuffling skills to the streets. He felt good whenever people would applaud him for the card tricks, however simple they were at the time.

He'd earned quite a bit of money from it too. He was around thirteen when one of his older friends taught him how to cheat people of their money and not get beaten up in the process. 'You have quick hands,' They'd say and that it would be a piece of cake. He tagged along with them from time to time but eventually, they'd let him perform card gambling and once the day was done, they'd give him his cut of the money.

Now he was doing really complex formations with ease but he'd stopped being a 'street performer', as they called him, a long time ago.. It always surprised him just how quickly he learned how to make the cards dance between his fingers. Although, he'd never known there was a word for it so he just called it like most of his friends did: Card Magic.

"Could you please stop doing that?" Seth interrupted the blonde's train of thought from the passenger seat. Dean paused mid-shuffle to look at his partner, his blue eyes having that curious look in them. The car had stopped, traffic stretched forever in front of their vehicle. Roman was looking at Dean in the rearview mirror while Seth turned in his seat to scold Dean head on.

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Doing what?"

"That! You've been…magicking those cards ever since we left the arena."

"Magicking isn't a word, Seth." Roman pointed out, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. Sometimes, Seth would make up words when he's tired.

Seth playfully punched the Samoan's tattooed arm. "Whatever. Just stop it, okay?" The half-blonde leaned back in his seat.

Dean's expression changed to one of amusement. He leaned forward and positioned his hands just by Seth's ear. He quietly shuffled the cards back into place before he Spring'ed* the cards from his right hand into his left, the sudden rapid sound of shuffling cards jolted the youngest man and, before they knew it, Seth was kneeling in his seat and attempted to punch Dean, who was busy laughing his ass off, the neat stack of cards in his left hand.

"Dean, could you stop bugging Seth already?" Roman scolded, although he had a smile on his face. To Seth, he said, "Just get some rest, baby boy. You've had a bad day as it is."

"Well, it's kinda hard to get some sleep when this asshole keeps playing with his cards!"

"Aright, alright," Dean held up his hands in surrender. "I'll stop, I promise."

When Seth leaned back into the passenger seat, the traffic finally moved and Roman had to focus on the road again.

They drove for two more hours; Seth fell asleep an hour ago so Dean deemed it okay to start shuffling the cards again but this time doing nothing more than a Swivel cuts and Hot Shots until they got to the hotel. The Lunatic Fringe placed the cards inside the plastic holder and put them away in his pocket to wake Seth up. The half-blonde grumbled a protest but eventually got out of the car along with the blonde while Roman went inside the hotel to get their room key.

Half an hour went by before they finally got to their room. Seth and Dean both had the same idea and went for one of the two beds in the room; Seth choosing the lay down on the soft mattress while Dean sat on the edge of the bed, fishing out the deck of cards from his pocket.

Roman sat on a lumpy recliner in the corner of the room, rubbing at his temples. "How'd you learn to do that?"

"God, would it kill both of you to be specific?" Dean arranged the cards in his hands, getting ready to perform a trick. "I've learned to do a lot of things. Like, I could tell you the first time I rode a bike-"

"I mean cardistry," Roman supplied, leaning forward to place his elbows on his knees. "You seem pretty good at it."

Dean's face showed his confusion at the new word but settled with the idea that Roman meant the card thing. He shrugged. "I've been doing it ever since I was real little, I guess, since I don't remember when I started. Maybe when I was, like, three and one of my mom's boyfriends dropped the cards in my crib or whatever."

Roman nodded in interest. "And you've never told us about this 'innate' gift of yours before?"

The younger man sighed through his nose, apparently bent of straightening the deck. "I didn't think that it was important for you guys to know. And besides, it annoys Seth, apparently, so I didn't wanna think that I was annoying you guys. Since, y'know, I do this a lot."

"Seth's just tired," The Samoan said, getting up to sit beside Seth on the bed and giving the half-blonde a kiss on the forehead. "I'm sure he'd appreciate the talent when he's had enough rest."

The Lunatic Fringe performed another Spring grip once more and the Samoan can't help but watch as the cards seemed to fly from one of Dean's hands to the other. The blonde didn't even look to see if the items would fall, nor did he look worried that they would. Roman just observed that same lost look on Dean's face that meant that the latter man was in deep thought.

After several cuts and grips and exhibitions later, Roman decided to break the silence again. "How come you don't look at the cards when you do that?"

"Cuz I already know where they're gonna go." Dean answered with a slightly annoyed hint in his voice, like he was irked that Roman would even ask him that question. And yeah, Roman probably deserved that answer. After all, Dean's been doing this practically his entire life.

"I can do it with my eyes closed too, y'know," Dean pointed out and Roman had to roll his eyes at that. Dean's arrogance was bound to surface somewhere in this conversation. "Most can only do it when they're looking away because peripheral stuff and all, but I can shuffle with both eyes closed."

"Yeah?" The oldest man challenged. "Prove it, mister Card Master."

Dean moved so he was in front of the Samoan, with Seth lying down asleep between them. He straightened the cards before leaning closer to kiss at Roman's lips, his blue eyes slipping shut. Roman looked down at the Lunatic's hands and, sure enough, the cards seemed to be dancing in Dean's hands, slipping effortlessly through calloused fingers and flipping back into the deck.

The unhinged man pulled away once a tired groan came from the man between them. They looked down to see Seth wide awake, a hand in his bed-ruffled hair and irritated expression on his handsome face.

"I swear to god, you two," Seth grumbled as he reached both hands up to grab the headboard and pulled himself up to a sitting position. "I never get enough sleep with you."

"'M sorry, babe." Dean apologized, kissing Seth's cheek. Roman did the same to Seth's shoulder.

"Me too, Seth," The oldest man said. "But Dean is really good with those cards, you have to admit."

Seth looked at Dean, who was sitting at his left with that sad puppy look on his face. The aerialist smiled and placing a kiss on the blonde's forehead.

"He is but you couldn't wait until tomorrow to show us these tricks?"

Before Dean could answer, Roman wrapped his strong arms around both of his brothers in a hug.

"Guess I was too excited." He finally replied, tapping at Roman's forearm to signal that he was getting uncomfortable, and immediately the latter broke the embrace.

An easy silence settled and they just had to keep it at bay.

Seth was the one to stop the silence from becoming unsettling. "But still, what are the odds that Dean was great at cardistry?"

Dean straightened the deck of cards again and said, mid-Spring grip, "It's all in the cards, I guess."

 **A/N: SO Sorry for not posting anything for MONTHS. I just had a bit of writers' block and I knew that I couldn't post anything forced because it would just turn out bad. So yeah, here's a quick one-shot of AmbRollEigns(?) with Dean being an expert in cardistry.**

 **Cardistry is the art of manipulating playing cards in a visually pleasing way and to show manual dexterity of the cardist. It's intended to look fluid, versatile and visual, and can also be used as a form of expression of creativity. (Source: Wikipedia)**

 **For the Spring grip*, Swivel cut and Hot Shot grip, please just search Cardistry cuts.**

 **So yeah, till the next time. Bye!**


End file.
